Shaxian snacks, Liuzhou snail powder fission tens of billions of major industries——
"You can eat this bowl of flat meat wherever you go"
Our reporter Kang Pu
From a small workshop to a big factory, from carrying baskets to small shops to chain operations, from entering towns to going abroad, snacks seem small, but they can also become a tens of billions of dollars.
In China, each region has its own specialty snacks, and there are not a few famous ones all over the country, but not many have formed a brand in the minds of consumers, and even fewer have become a billion-dollar industry.
Shaxian snacks and Liuzhou snail noodles are among the best.
How did they go to the country and then to the world?
There is a big livelihood in snacks
"Eat all directions with a big mouth, it's still fragrant here." Walking in the streets and alleys of the city, if you pay attention, you will find that there is a cartoon image of "Pac-Man" with a big mouth open on the signboard of every Shaxian snack. The unified logo of Shaxian snack stores.
How common are logos?
"This image is on the signboards of 88,300 Shaxian snack stores around the world." Zhang Xin, deputy director of the Shaxian Snack Industry Development Management Committee, told reporters.
There is a popular saying in Shaxian: "The flat meat is brick, the noodles are steel, and the high-rise buildings in Shaxian are built." Behind this is a huge industry with more than 300,000 employees and an annual turnover of 55 billion yuan.
From the original single-handed shoulder-to-shoulder and roadside stalls to the now-unified store with fingers clenched into fists, Shaxian snacks have become a big industry for enriching the people.
Noodles, flat meat (wonton), etc. are not uncommon in local snacks. Why is the brand in Shaxian the only one so loud?
"In the 1990s, under the tide of reform and opening up, a large number of laborers flocked to coastal provinces such as Fujian and Guangdong. Shaxian snacks with the slogan of 'one yuan to enter the store, two yuan to eat, and five yuan to eat well' are convenient, fast, high-quality and cheap. It just meets the needs of the times, which is the key to its success." Zhang Xin said.
"Rice is a small delicacy, snacks are a big soul. The noodles are good for the sun and the moon, and the snails compete in the world." Liuzhou snail noodles, which are sour, refreshing, fresh, spicy and hot, have gained a high reputation in recent years.
Its popularity is due to the east wind of the Internet economy and the "home economy".
"Liuzhou has firmly grasped the wave of e-commerce development in the marketing of snail powder, and used Internet thinking to make it a well-known Internet celebrity product." said Ou Haoxuan, general manager of the overseas business department of Guangxi snail brand management Co., Ltd., "Liuzhou has always been based on steel, automobile, and machinery manufacturing as its pillar industries, and has deep industrial genes. Since 2014, Liuzhou has applied industrialization thinking to the production of snail noodles, making it bid farewell to workshop-style production and complete the process from 'street snacks' 'The turn to 'Packaged Fast Food'."
The pre-packaged snail powder has just emerged, and many merchants have entered this industry, but there is a lack of iconic brands. It is against this background that snail king was established.
"After several years of precipitation, Luobawang has become one of the leading enterprises in the industry, and the production plant has also expanded from 700 square meters to 7,000 square meters." Ou Haoxuan said, "The first and second phases of Luobawang Luowei Snail Noodles Industrial Park have been completed. After that, the daily production capacity can reach 1.5 million bales.”
A small bag of powder hides the livelihood of the people.
"The raw materials of snail noodles include snails, bamboo shoots, beans, rice, fungus and other ingredients. A bowl of noodles strung together a chain of rural wealth, bringing out the great benefits of a win-win situation." President of Liuzhou snail noodles Association Tang Jiwen said.
At present, Liuzhou has 127 certified snail powder manufacturers and more than 300 independent brands.
In 2021, the sales revenue of Liuzhou's bagged snail powder will reach 15.197 billion yuan, and the sales revenue of the whole industry chain of snail powder will reach 50.16 billion yuan, directly creating more than 300,000 jobs.
Empower brands with standardization
On Tianxiang Road, Changdong Industrial Zone, Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, the Shaxian Snacks Nanchang No. 136 chain opened not long ago.
Uniform dress, neat tables and chairs, the "post-80s" store manager Yan Jiahe and the clerk greet customers with a smile.
Yan Jiahe is a native of Yangbang Village, Xiamao Town, Shaxian District, Sanming City, Fujian Province. He has been running a snack business with his family for many years.
Getting up at 6 am and closing the stall at 1 am is the norm.
In the 1990s, Shaxian Snacks opened up the market with economic benefits, but with the improvement of living standards and changes in the market environment, the "mom and pop shop" model of working alone seems a little powerless.
"The quality of the stores varies, the dishes cannot be guaranteed to be updated stably, and the environment of some stores is unappetizing. Although the overall size is not small, there is still a big gap between the quality, standards, R&D innovation, and operation management compared with branded fast food. "Recalling the ups and downs of Shaxian snacks, Zhang Xin sighed.
"It's very hard for snack owners to open a store, but sometimes they can't find the way, don't know how to handle ingredients, and their business management is even more smeared." Yan Fahui, who has been in the catering industry for more than 20 years, has a deep understanding.
If you don't advance, you will retreat, and if you don't change, you will die. Shaxian Snacks has come to the crossroads of development.
From the local government to the practitioners, transformation and upgrading have become a consensus.
The establishment of a snack chain franchise store to promote the company operation, standardized implementation and chain operation of snacks in Shaxian County. A branding change from ingredient supply to menu matching to operation and management has opened up a new world for practitioners.
This year, Yan Jiahe saw the trend of snack transformation and upgrading, and decided to join the Shaxian Snack Group chain.
"The upgraded store is no longer the original 'old, broken, and small', and the ordering and service modes have also changed a lot," he said.
Today, the raw materials such as willow leaf steamed dumplings, semi-finished dumplings, and condiments in the Yanjiahe store are all delivered from the Shaxian headquarters, and labor costs have also come down.
"I earn more than 4,000 yuan every day, and I have more time. I can spend more time with my family!" Yan Jiahe was very happy.
Yan Fahui founded Zuiyoucai Food Technology Co., Ltd. in the exploration, focusing on the research and development and production of snack compound sauces, and regularly provides free training to snack owners to promote the transformation and upgrading of Shaxian snacks.
"Sauce is the soul of snacks. With a good supply of sauces, snack owners will be able to pack lightly. Our goal is to enable operators to operate in a 'check-in' style." Yan Fahui used an image metaphor.
The bagged snail powder that came down from the assembly line has its own industrial genes.
"Liuzhou snail powder industry chain standard system has been gradually established, covering 564 standards in 6 sub-systems of the whole industry chain. The construction of standards in related industries has been accelerated, and the standardization of planting, processing, packaging, distribution, physical store construction and other links has been realized." Tang Jiwen said.
Automation and standardization, will the flavor of snacks be lost?
"Inheriting the food culture, there is no need to shy away from 'standardization'. The two complement each other in the current environment. Only by formulating standard requirements can practitioners continue to innovate on this basis, so that snacks can last forever." Zhang Xin said.
"Strict standardization and standardized production have solved the problem that snail powder manufacturers are fighting against each other and the industry standards are not unified, ensured product quality and safety, and consolidated the development foundation of snail powder industry." Ou Haoxuan said, "Standardization is conducive to building a brand. , to bring more space for the golden signboard of snail noodles."
Yan Fahui said: "Zuiyoucai currently uses semi-automatic production methods, and some production links still retain manual operations, the purpose is to keep more 'pot gas' in the products."
Bring more foreigners to the table
While going nationwide, local specialty snacks also rushed out of the country and won the favor of a large number of consumers overseas.
The first Shaxian snack bar in the United States sold out the ingredients for a day in less than 3 hours. The first Shaxian snack bar in Tokyo, Japan opened in 5 hours. The sales revenue exceeded 10,000 yuan. A video introducing the Shaxian noodles has won 26 Thousands of views and tens of thousands of likes...
Shaxian snacks are popular overseas and are praised as "very creative" and "unique flavor".
Flat meat is still a menu classic, but the flavors have gone the way of the country.
In Spain, fried lentils are popular; in France, chicken-stuffed lentils are the most popular.
Many Chinese overseas sighed: "You can really eat this bowl of flat meat wherever you go!"
Snail noodles also have many "fans" overseas.
According to statistics, Liuzhou snail powder has been exported to more than 20 countries and regions around the world, with an export value of 8.24 million US dollars in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 89.86%.
"Luobawang has landed on 12 cross-border e-commerce platforms and has become a leading exporter in the industry," said Ou Haoxuan.
He shared a story with reporters: In April 2019, Luobawang’s overseas team visited overseas businessmen and found that some criminals misappropriated their product names and similar packaging, sold fake and shoddy products, and misled consumers.
"I was very angry and immediately reported it to the relevant departments, but this also reflects the popularity of our products."
In recent years, at the China-ASEAN Expo, snail powder has frequently become the "popular" product of the exhibition.
On various short video platforms, there are more and more shots of foreign "net celebrities" focusing on snail powder.
The popular overseas national cuisine has not only become a window to spread Chinese catering culture, but also set up a bridge for Sino-foreign cooperation.
Chinese students from Liuzhou City Vocational College and international students from Laos and Indonesia formed an entrepreneurial team. On the basis of adhering to the authentic flavor, they developed snail noodles for ASEAN consumers. They sometimes "wind" 10 bowls of noodles a day.
After several months of hard work, the snail powder with Tom Yum Goong soup flavor was born. It has a light coconut fragrance and is well received by the target consumer groups.
"The local gourmet bagged products such as snail noodles are very characteristic, with high taste reduction, high recognition in overseas markets, and strong product competitiveness. We make targeted changes in research and development according to the standards and market preferences of different countries and regions. Strategy, transformation of the production line and supply chain have improved the popularity and market share of Liuzhou snail noodles overseas." Ou Haoxuan said, "The feedback from overseas markets is very good, and we are confident to expand the promotion of Chinese local specialty snacks and send them to more foreign countries. people's table."
Zhang Xin believes that thanks to the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" initiative and industrial development, there is a very broad space for national snacks to go overseas.
The taste change of snacks "going to sea" is inevitable, "but traditional craftsmanship cannot be lost, and the taste and shape of dishes must be inherited and maintained."
"Because of inclusiveness and diversity, today's Shaxian snacks have the rich appearance, which should also be the cultural basis for Shaxian snacks to go overseas." Zhang Xin said, Shaxian snacks will accelerate the pace of "going to the sea".